An Alternate Turn To Love
by fanficgurl018
Summary: Ok Clerith fans! Get ready for a twist in the fanfics that I'm sure you'll love...ok so I suck at summaries...but you get the idea.
1. Prologe

Hey guys! Now I know that I have another story up, but there is a plus side to this one. It's something that I don't think has been done before. Hope you haven't ruled it out yet, and just enjoy.

Prologe

Cloud, Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Aerith were all running away from Hallow Bastion. It was the home that they once thought was safe, but instead it was under attack by the one and only Sephiroth.

"We have to make it to the gummi!" Sora cried dodging Heartless and Nobodies. "It's the only way!" They finally made it to a small alley where they could catch their breath for the time being.

Aerith stared at him like he was crazy. "It's not going to fit all of us Sora!"

"Does it look like I care Aerith?" he said with a glare. "Just go! I'll think of something."

Cloud nodded. "Anything's better than staying here right now."

"Who died and made you king?" Aerith said. "Why can't we just fight him head on like you normally do?"

Cloud glared at her. "because if we do, we'll die. Somehow something, or should I say _someone_ has made him go over the edge. When he goes that far, there's no stopping him."

"Oh so you're blaming _me _for this?" Aerith cried poking him the chest. "I'll have you know- "

"Guys!" Sora intervened "Let's just go, we can't stay here forever or we're as good as dead…."

Aerith tore her glare away from Cloud. "Fine. But how are we going to fit?"

"We'll figure out a way, just go!"

When they made sure that the coast was clear they ran down the alley to the closest exit they could find. They had just about made it to the ship when someone came up behind them.

"So Aerith, you're really joining them?"

Aerith whirled around to see who was calling her. "M-Mother?"

A woman with black hair and sad eyes came out. "You would betray your father and I to join them? You are no better than the others.."

Aerith clenched her fists. "You can't tell me what to do anymore Mother!" She turned as she heard a noise coming not far from where they were standing.

Sephiroth was poised for attack, his sword gleaming in the sun. "You're a fool! You will regret this day…"

Aerith smirked as she backed away from him. "Not a chance….father…." She turned and leaped into the gummi just as Sephiroth attacked.

And that's how I'll end it. Don't worry they make it out ok. But what do you think? Sephiroth is Aerith's father. And who's the mother? Will we ever know? If you can figure out who the mother is in this next chapter. I'll dedicate the chapter to you, oh and then there will be cake!


	2. Not So Welcome Guest with His story

Hey everyone, sorry that this took so long. Thank you so much for reading and please review! Anyway, here is the next chapter. I hope that you like it. I'm not going to bother with a disclaimer because you already know that I don't have the genius to come up with these characters.

Sora sighed as he stood outside the hotel in Traverse Town. It had been two months since they left Hallow Bastion. Normally he would have been thrilled that he had a new ally. Especially since this one hated Sephiroth as much as Cloud did. However, that seemed to be the cause for his annoyance these days.

Aerith seemed to be too much like Cloud in a lot of aspects. All they seemed to do was either argue or want to kill each other. Some fights were easily broken up, but others were just downright stupid. Today was no exception.

Cloud stormed out of the hotel nearly knocking Sora down in the process. "Sorry" he mumbled as he left. Sora ran after him, hoping to calm him down.

"What happened this time?"

Cloud glanced at him and smirked. "She thinks I stole her ribbon."

Sora rolled his eyes. "Did you?"

Cloud shrugged.

Sora sighed. "Cloud you really have got to stop getting on her nerves. She really is an asset."

Cloud raised an eyebrow at this comment. "You were the one who didn't want her in the group in the first place. 'She's worse than the enemy'"

Sora shook his head at the memory. "Well she's proven herself in the last two months. I mean sure I don't fully trust her, but come on we can at least _try _to get along."

Cloud stopped in his tracks. "No Sora. For once, you were right. She is worse than the enemy. How do we know that she wasn't brainwashed into doing this. I've never trusted Sephiroth and I never will. So why would I trust his daughter?"

"Because she isn't her father."

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't matter." Then he continued his path down to the waterway where he would most likely stay for the rest of the night.

-Meanwhile-

Aerith was pacing back and forth in her room after the latest pointless fight. _That lousy no good for nothing- Just who does he think he is anyway? Haven't I already done what I could with this? This is difficult enough without that blonde freak running around thinking that he knows everything in the world. _

She nearly jumped two feet in the air when Yuffie walked into the room without so much as a knock. (A/N: For any Twilight fans out there, I'm more or less making Yuffie into an Alice character. If anyone objects, please just review and tell me)

"Hi Aerith! What's up?"

Aerith shook her head. She still couldn't believe that Yuffie had taken a liking to her so quickly. She thought that everyone was going to be like Cloud. It was a breath of fresh air to meet a kind face.

"Nothing just-"

"Cloud again right?"

Aerith nodded with a look of fury in her eyes. "He's a complete moron who has nothing better to do than get on my nerves."

Yuffie giggled. "Don't worry. He's really a nice guy once you get to know him."

She leaned against a wall. "I'll believe that when I see it. I don't get it. He's acting like an immature child with me here. He doesn't understand that I'm a different person than my father. I would never hurt anyone here."

Yuffie sighed. "Well Cloud and Sephiroth have had these problems from the beginning, and it's hard for Cloud to trust anyone. You're lucky that he's just getting on your nerves. It could have been worse."

Aerith shrugged. "I don't imagine how it could be-wait. My father and Cloud have had problems before. I thought my father was just bored one day."

"That's probably what happened, but Cloud's gone through a tough past. I'm not sure how to explain it but I think that I can explain it. When he was little Sephiroth was like a mentor to him. Always teaching him and explaining what Cloud thought was unexplainable."

Yuffie seemed to to get a little uncomfortable at this point in the story. "Unfortunately for Cloud he found out one day that Sephiroth wasn't teaching him anything. All the time your father was manipulating him to do what he considered was his 'dirty work'. They've were rivals and went as far as hatred at times, but it took a real turn for the worst when Cloud's family got into the picture. Sephiroth thought that Cloud needed to be taught a lesson."

Yuffie had to pause at this. "He had a mother and father that lived with him at the time. They paid the price." She looked down at the ground. "He hasn't been right since." She stood up and started to leave the room. "Well now you can say you know where he's coming from."

Aerith sat down on her bed, astonished at the story that she was told. She couldn't believe that she was told all this about her father. She knew that her father was a diabolical fiend, but now he had hurt one of her newly found allies. Well he wasn't the only person that had a story to tell. _Tomorrow it's his turn. _


	3. Her Story

Hi everyone, I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to send you all a reply. It's been a hectic month of sorts for me. Anyway here's the next chapter and I hope that you enjoy it! I won't mention the disclaimer because you already know that I don't own these characters. 

Aerith sighed as she left her room. She couldn't believe that Cloud could have a good reason to hate her father. It all made sense when she left him because she didn't want to be hurt by him ever again. Well she knew what she had to do and she wasn't looking forward to it because she knew that Cloud would not want to share his story much less hear someone else's. 

Aerith made her way to the room where they had put him in. She wasn't really sure what to expect when she knocked on the door. After about five minutes of waiting and periodic knocking there was no answer, so she decided to give up for now. 

"Looking for someone" 

Aerith turned around startled only to find the one whose hair defines gravity himself. "Cloud don't do that!" 

" I can do whatever I want. Now who are you looking for Aerith?" 

She sighed and tried to control herself. "I was looking for you. I wanted to tell you something." When Cloud didn't say anything she continued. "I heard your story from someone, and I just wanted to-"

"Who told you that?" Cloud said with his eyes darkening. 

Aerith showed no sense of fear whatsoever. (Come on this is Sephiroth's daughter in this story, you think that Cloud's eyes are going to scare her?) "It was Yuffie. Now don't get too upset. I think that she was just tired of us arguing all the time so she just wanted us to find some type of common ground." 

Cloud stiffened at this. He didn't want to find common ground with anyone, much less this Aer-head. (Yes that's spelled wrong for a reason) "Fine. I'll get her later. Now what do you want so I can get into my room."

It wasn't until this point that Aerith realized that she was blocking the entrance to Cloud's room, but she didn't really seem to care all that much. "Look I just want to tell you my story. You obviously know that I'm Sephiroth's daughter and I had to leave Hallow Bastion to get away from him. I think Sora is the only one who knows really why I left. " She closed her eyes and leaned against the door for support. She knew that this was not going to be easy on her. She was surprised that Cloud had been paying attention this long to begin with. "I had wanted to leave him for about a year before you all showed up. I didn't like the things that he was doing to me, my family, and the world that we lived in. He always said that he was trying to make peace with the world by showing what he was really all about. I didn't know that it meant killing people and stealing their hearts." 

She sighed as she continued. "My guess is that he wanted to create something that he could be find pride in. On a regular basis I was to train my hardes to beat his experiments. As you can tell I did, but that wasn't without a price involved." She took off her jacket to show various scars. " I think that those will be with me throughout my life. I had always had my doubts over where I should really be, but it was never solidified until a man showed up to where we were living. To this day I can still remember his name. It was Adin. Needless to say we hit it off from the moment we met, but my father had other plans for him. One day he took him aside and brought him to his lab where he was going to show him a new device that he wanted to test out. It was supposed to blend both heartless and nobodies to gain some type of supreme being that would be unstoppable. The only problem is he needed a test subject to try out his theory." To this she looked down. "He said that he would not get hurt by the machines or chemicals. He said that it would only be temporary. He was wrong. When the being was created the heart was gone from Adin's body and what was left was for me to fight. I won." She pushed herself off of the wall when she finished her story. 

Aerith glared at him now. "So don't tell me you're alone in all of this Cloud because you never really were." And with that, she walked away from him somehow keeping her composure until she made it back to her room. 


	4. The Test

Hey everyone, sorry that this is so late, but I hate having writers block!

Disclaimer: Blah Blah Blah don't own this stuff so don't sue.

Cloud managed to get back to his room before he could show any emotion. How dare Yuffie get involved in…well just get involved. He didn't want Aerith to know anything about him that he didn't want anyone else to know. His past was something that he wanted to keep there. Never in a million years would he ever want to remember those days.

Alone? Why would he think that he was alone in the first place? He never thought that! Or…did he? Sure he had sworn of companionship in the past because of how Sephiroth had used it all against him. He didn't want anyone getting hurt in the process the way that his previous family had. And he would never want to endure the pain of caring for someone and having them lost forever in the sea of darkness that was Sephiroth's wrath.

Aerith sat on her bed and let the tears flow. Why couldn't Cloud understand that having someone around wasn't such a big deal. More importantly, why did she care? Ever since she left her father, she didn't think that she could even care about any of the people here except for Sora. He was the only one that had accepted her into the group right off. The others didn't seem to mind as much. She had a feeling that the only reason that Kairi had accepted her was because she didn't want to hang out with Yuffie twenty-four hours a day.

She decided that she would leave her room and go for a walk to clear her head. When she opened the door she was surprised to see Sora there waiting for her.

"Hey Aerith. I heard about what happened with Cloud just now and I'm sorry to say that he's usually like this."

She leaned casually against the doorframe. "I guessed that much. Was there something else you wanted Sora? I can tell by the look on your face."

Sora looked away from her with a small blush on his face. What was he an open book? "Um…yes. It's about you and Cloud. We need you both to come to the center of town. Merlin needs to see something."

"Why does it have to be me and him? I don't think that he would want to see me right now, and I really don't want to see him either."

Sora shrugged. "He said something about hearts and how pure they are. Before you came Cloud was pretty down in the dumps. Don't give me that look, it was really bad! Well he almost turned away from us when you showed up. Something about how we would get hurt if we stayed around him. So Merlin wants to see if he's the real deal now or what."

"Ok, but what does this have to do with me?"

"Merlin wants to see if your intentions are pure as well because you are Sephiroth's daughter."

Aerith sighed and stared at the ground for a few moments. "So no one trusts me here after all…"

"No. It's not that at all. It's just for Merlin's sake, he wants to have that piece of mind."

Aerith nodded in understanding. She still wasn't completely sure that she should go through with this, but if this was the last bit of acceptance that she needed she would go for it. Anything else would look as though she was hiding something.

About two hours later both she and Cloud had made it to the center of Traverse Town without so much as a word to each other. Their nerves were sort of at their breaking point because they didn't really know what to say to each other. Cloud didn't want to admit that she would be hurt by being close to him and Aerith didn't want to admit that she even cared about his opinion in the first place.

Merlin looked at the two with a warm smile. He seemed to know something that they didn't, and though they weren't sure of it yet, they had a feeling that something was going to happen.

"Come here both of you," he said as an orb of light was summoned before him. "This will not only tell you the sincerity of your heart, but it may give you a new ability that can only be shown through time and emotional connection."

To this, Aerith raised an eyebrow. "Emotional connection? To who?"

Merlin chuckled. "Don't you worry about that, my dear. That will also be shown to you in time. That technique has yet to be shown to any of us. I've tried it on everyone that has come to Traverse Town to fight against the heartless and I have failed every time. I suppose that this time will work."

Cloud stiffened. "So we're just your guinea pigs?"

Merlin laughed. "Of course not. I'm not experimenting, I just know that it could happen one day. The intentions of your heart have been used since this war started."

Cloud didn't seem to buy anything the man was saying. "If you say you've used it on everyone that's showed up here, then why didn't you try this on me when I first showed up. And why not on Aerith, she's been here long enough to have betrayed us."

Merlin's eyes darkened. "Both of you came to this place with a darkness on your heart. Now for some reason that darkness has lifted, and I would like to know if it's because you have found some light or if it's because your are merely acting. Now if you are both finished with your questions we can begin."

Merlin motioned them both to the orb. "Place you hand on it. Don't worry it may sting a little, but it's only temporary."

Cloud sighed. "Let's just get this over with." To his surprise, Aerith nodded in agreement.

They placed their hands on the orb simultaneously (a/n: and no im not doing that to be cheesy, I just figured that it would go quicker this way…) and suddenly a soft light appeared in their hands, flowed up their arms and sunk into their hearts.

Cloud's eyes softened for the first time in his life since the death of his family. The light that sunk into his heart made him feel as if there were nothing in the world that bothered him. Every muscle in his body had relaxed into that of complete comfort. It wasn't until then that he looked over at Aerith and realize that her entire appearance had changed. Her once braided hair was down and flowing in the soft breeze that had come with his increased comfort. Gone was her once pink dress and brown boots. This was replaced with a flowing white dress that complimented her features. In his eyes, she seemed as though she were more of a princess than a mere girl that escaped the hands of a killer for a father. She appeared to be in the same relaxed state that Cloud had seen her in, yet when she looked at him she looked as though he were looking at a complete stranger and not Sephiroth's daughter.

Aerith, however calm she may be, had lost all interest in time and space when she saw Cloud. He wore a white button down shirt with a black tie, jacket, and dress pants. The strangest part about him to her was the fact that he seemed almost happy and any darkness he had in his eyes had completely disappeared. She couldn't help but feel overjoyed in her heart for the man standing before her.

Only then, when the two seemed to lock their eyes with one another did the light fade from the orb, leaving an empty hole in the air.

Ok so here's the next chapter. Leave me reviews, comments, or whatever. Hope you liked it!


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